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Today's round-up includes a new exhibition dealing with games, as well as a surprisingly large prize for a soon-to-be-launched MMO title.
- New York's Museum of the Moving Image is hosting a game-related exhibition called Digital Play: Reloaded, the expansion of its previous Digital Play exhibit. Nine new games will be on display alongside the existing collection. The additions include Pac-Mondrian
, a version of Pac-Man
set inside Piet Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie" painting; Arcadia
, which involves playing four arcade games at once; Stepmania
, an independent take on Dance Dance Revolution
that uses the player's own music rather than preset songs; and 2004 industry favorite Katamari Damacy
. The Digital Play: Reloaded exhibition will open with a reception on March 18 at 6:30 PM.
- RYL: Path of the Emperor
, an upcoming MMORPG from Planetwide Games, has a tried-and-true hook to get players to adopt their game: those who preorder RYL
before its release will be eligible to enter a player-vs-player tournament, the grand prize of which will be $1,000,000. Interested players can either purchase the pre-order game from regular retail stores or online from the RYL site
. The tournament will begin on July 1, 2005 and end nearly a year later in April 2006; the final rounds of the tournament will be broadcast during E3 2006.


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Environmental and animal rights activists blocked several distribution centers in the UK American fast food chain McDonald’s assured that it would affect 1,300 restaurants.
“We do it for End the plight of obesity-causing fast food, destroy the Amazon And it heats the planet, ”Animal Rebellion explained on Twitter.
The group is behind the action targeting four distribution centers in England: Coventry, Manchester, Basingstoke and Hemel Hampstead near London.
Animal rebellion said that Those places will stay at least 24 hours.
Just getting up? Then catch this incredible drone footage and video of our breaking action: We’ve locked all four @ McDonald’sUK Distribution Depot serving its 1300 restaurants !!
For the climate, for the animals, for our planet. ???????????????? (Credit: Dillon Parson) pic.twitter.com/4IDJbFOClL
– Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) May 22, 2021
McDonald’s spokesman said The chain’s distribution centers were “currently experiencing an outage” And he was evaluating the “impact on delivery” in the restaurant.
“We apologize to our customers for any disappointment,” he said.
Animal rebellion Workers appear blocking the entrance to a distribution center in Coventry With bamboo structures and a van.
Coventry police said on Twitter that Talking to activists to “reduce disruption”.
“Wannabe troublemaker. Pop culture fanatic. Zombie nerd. Lifelong bacon advocate. Alcohol enthusiast. Tv junkie.”

domain: news


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WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a $130 billion bill Wednesday by a vote of 62 to 36 that shortens depreciation rules for remodeling stores and provides more capital to expand businesses through the Small Business Administration.
To help pay for the bill, which also includes unemployment insurance extensions, the measure prevents paper companies from claiming $29 billion in tax credits for burning “black liquor,” a pulp by-product used as an alternative fuel.
"You start one way as a baby, but why shouldn't you be able to choose your own path as opposed to culturally people telling you which way to go?" - Thom Browne at his men's spring 2018 show, where he celebrated gender fluidity. #pfw #wwdmens (📷: @delphineachard)
"I think that all anyone really wants in life is to have people understand us for who we actually are, despite everything," says Ruth Negga. The actress talks "Preachers" season 2 and more on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: Dan Doperalski)


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Economic growth slowing from peak rates
This year is shaping up to be the best year in the current economic cycle. In its economic survey published on 14 September 2018, the Ministry of Finance forecasts economic growth to accelerate to 3.0% this year. In the following years, however, Finland’s economic growth will slow to just over 1.5%.
Finland’s economy will grow by 1.7% in 2019 and by 1.6% in 2020. Investment will continue to support economic growth, even though construction investment will decline next year. Growth in exports will level off in line with growth in world trade, and economic growth will no longer be supported by net exports as strongly as before. Household consumption demand will be constrained by the fact that real disposable income will not grow at the same pace as before. Over the medium term, in 2021–2022, the economy is expected to grow by 1% per year, corresponding to the growth rate of potential output.
Good economic development and the consolidation measures taken in accordance with the Government Programme will restore the balance of general government finances in the next few years. The general government budgetary position will return to surplus at the turn of the decade and the debt to GDP ratio will fall.
“The economy is now pushing ahead at the peak of the economic cycle. Employment is growing rapidly, and general government finances are strengthening. In the next few years, however, we should prepare for significantly more subdued conditions. Action to free up existing resources in society to full use must continue,” says Mikko Spolander, Director General of the Economics Department.
Employment now at a record high
In the early part of 2018, the rate of employment growth has even been faster than could be assumed on the basis of economic activity. There are currently more people in employment than ever before. In June, the employment trend exceeded its previous record level, seen at the cyclical peak in 2008, and reached 71.8%. Continued strong economic growth will increase the number of employed people by 2.6% this year compared with a year earlier. Despite the slowdown in economic growth, growth of employment will continue throughout the outlook period and the employment rate will rise to 73% in 2020.
The acceleration of economic growth this year is explained by the fact that manufacturing enterprises’ outlook for output is positive, construction of major building investment projects is still continuing and sales expectations in the service sector have improved. On the other hand, there are also signs of growth constraints. Surveys of enterprises report that shortages of skilled labour and production capacity are becoming more common.
In 2019, the highest phase of investment will have passed and economic growth will slow. Construction investment is expected to contract in the next few years, because housing production has risen to an exceptionally high level. The number of building permits granted has fallen compared with last year. Private investment growth will continue to be reasonable, however. There are several very extensive investment projects being planned in Finland, particularly in the forest industry. It is assumed that these will support the development of investment during the outlook period.
Growth of private consumption will be supported by rising earnings as well as by the improvement in employment. An increase in the total wage bill and pension income will maintain the rapid growth in household disposable income. In real terms, growth of household disposable income will slow down, however, as inflation picks up.
Global economy growth levelling off
The upswing in the global economy will continue, but the fastest growth phase has already passed. Europe, in particular, is showing signs of slowing economic growth. Unemployment is decreasing, however, and consumer confidence is strong. Inflation has picked up during the current year, but core inflation remains low.
The US economy is growing rapidly and unemployment is very low. US economic growth has been driven by private consumption. Inflation is picking up due to employment and consumption growth, and the Federal Reserve is expected to continue tightening monetary policy.
World trade growth will slow during the outlook period. Growth is set to be modest, particularly in the euro area. World trade growth will be supported by emerging economies. Positive economic development has pushed up the price of oil during the current year, and in the next few years oil prices will rise due to production constraints and strong demand.
Strong world trade growth will provide good prospects for Finnish exports. Net exports will continue to support growth, even though imports of production inputs will increase. Forest industry investments and the introduction of new capacity are already boosting export growth. The relatively low share of imported inputs in the forest industry improves the growth impact of net exports.
Despite improvements, the foundation of general government finances is not sustainable
General government finances have strengthened significantly in recent years, supported by measures in accordance with the Government Programme and good economic conditions. The improvement will continue in the next few years, and the balance of general government finances will be restored at the turn of the decade. In addition, public debt in ratio to GD will fall. It appears that the targets set by the Government for general government debt and budgetary position will be largely reached.
Although the balance of general government finances as a whole will be restored, central government and local government expenditure will continue to exceed revenue. Of the sectors of general government finances, only the social security funds are in surplus. In euro terms, public debt will therefore continue to grow.
When assessing the real robustness of general government finances, we must look beyond individual economic cycles. Despite the strengthening of recent years, the capacity of general government finances to withstand future recessions, unpleasant surprises and projected expenditure pressures is still significantly weaker than in the period that preceded the recession. The debt ratio is still around 60% and structurally, i.e. excluding cyclical effects, general government finances are in deficit.
The sustainable financing of general government finances over the longer term is not secured. Population ageing will increase public expenditure, reduce the size of the working-age population and weaken opportunities for economic growth. The revenue for general government finances generated by economic growth will not be sufficient to finance public services and benefits.
Trade war poses the biggest threat to economic growth
The risks seen in the economic outlook are more strongly skewed to the downside than earlier. A key risk is trade war escalation. Trade barriers between key economies have a broader impact than appears to be the case at first glance. Tariffs imposed by an individual state will also most likely have an adverse impact on the country’s own industry. An escalation of the trade war would slow growth in world trade and consequently global economic growth.
Household indebtedness relative to disposable income will continue to grow. This trend will be supported by low interest rates, the positive development of the labour market and strong growth in housing construction. The problems of indebtedness will be heightened, however, when interest rates rise in due course and households have to make hard choices about their other consumption.
Mikko Spolander, Director General, tel. +358 2955 30006, mikko.spolander(at)vm.fi
Jukka Railavo, Senior Financial Adviser, tel. +358 2955 30540, jukka.railavo(at)vm.fi (real economy)
Marja Paavonen, Senior Financial Adviser, tel. +358 2955 30187, marja.paavonen(at)vm.fi (general government finances)


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Promotions and menu enhancements drove traffic to Bloomin’ Brands Inc. restaurants in the fourth quarter, although unfavorable weather in the Northeast, including Superstorm Sandy, offset traffic increases.
Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ: BLMN), Tampa-based parent company of Outback Steakhouse, reported total revenues of $998.4 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, a 4.5 percent increase over $955.6 million for the same quarter in 2011.
Net income attributable to Bloomin' Brands was $18.4 million for the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $30.5 million for the same period in 2011, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
For the year ended Dec. 31, total revenues were $4 billion, a 3.8 percent increase from $3.8 billion in 2011.
Net income attributable to Bloomin' Brands was $50 million in 2012, compared with net income of $100 million in 2011.
Bloomin’ Brands is also the parent company of Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar and Roy’s.


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John Lewis sales dipped over the bank holiday as consumers basked in the sun, but Waitrose benefited from perfect picnic weather.
- John Lewis weekly sales fall 0.5%
- Waitrose sales up 0.5% as customers buy picnic food
- Total partnership sales flat over bank holiday
The department store retailer said the slight dip of 0.5% in the week to May 23 was against a strong bank holiday Saturday last year.
Home sales increased 3.7% compared with last year as customers responded to promotional activity on furniture.
Fashion sales slowed slightly compared with recent weeks, but were still up 1.1%, with strong results coming from wholesale womenswear (21%).
Christine Kasoulis, buying director, home, John Lewis, said: “We had a strong start to the week while the skies were grey. Sales then dipped on Saturday as the sun came out for most of us and footfall dropped off. This was against a strong Saturday last year, owing to wet weather.”
Meanwhile, online sales continued to perform well. They rose 10.6%, driven predominantly by fashion.
Waitrose, on the other hand, reported a sales increase of 0.5% compared with last year, but the retailer noted that it is still being hit by deflation.
The sunny weather led to customers buying picnic-style food, which helped Waitrose food-to-go products increase 9%, while small bottles of wine rose 21%.
Sales of grown-up soft drinks – such as fizzy elderflower – more than tripled.
Customers also chose to serve roast dinners over the long weekend, and sales of Yorkshire puddings rose 28%. While the half term break meant parents stocked up on easy family meals such as fish fingers (up 9%), frozen pizzas (up 6%), garlic bread (up 12%) and stir fry vegetables (up 16%).


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Coinbase product supervisor Armin Rezaiean-Asel introduced in a weblog submit that the change will halt ETH and ERC-20 deposits and withdrawals in the course of the Ethereum Merge.
It’s not the primary time that Coinbase Is quickly suspending deposits and withdrawals. Taking precautionary measures to guard customers and the system is Coinbase’s commonplace follow for any main community improve.
Coinbase Needs Security Throughout the Merge
An analogous transfer occurred once more the yr after the onerous fork of Bitcoin break up additional into subsequent blockchains. In 2017, the change paused exercise in the course of the chain break up between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Money.
“Though the Merge is anticipated to be seamless from a consumer perspective, this downtime permits us to make sure that the transition has been efficiently mirrored by our techniques,” stated Rezaiean-Asel, “We don’t anticipate every other networks or currencies to be impacted and anticipate no influence to buying and selling for ETH and ERC-20 tokens throughout our centralized buying and selling merchandise.”
Apart from that, the change stated that customers needs to be cautious when any people ask them to ship ETH to improve to ETH2. ETH2 tokens don’t exist and any choices are fraudulent. Crypto customers have to take no motion to get staked ETH.
Not a Complete Freeze
Customers are nonetheless capable of commerce, purchase, and promote on Coinbase with current belongings as ETH and ERC-20 token swaps are nonetheless accessible.
The crypto change, nevertheless, has not offered any additional particulars on the particular date of pause. Customers might take note of its official channels for updates earlier than the long-awaited Merge which is slated to showcase round September 15 or 16.
Talking with Decrypt, a Coinbase consultant stated that the change deliberate to halt deposits and withdrawals for less than, “a brief time period,” and there can be possible no specifics till “the beginning of the Merge.”
It stays unsure whether or not different crypto exchanges reminiscent of FTX, Crypto.com, and Gemini will pursue the identical transfer.
As Decrypt reported, an electronic mail despatched on behalf of Binance confirmed that the change may also observe an identical transfer of halting ETH and ERC-20 token deposits and withdrawals and can present discover to its customers quickly.
The Merge is Coming Quickly
Data means that the Merge will occur on September 15 or 16.
There’s at the moment loads of hype and hypothesis across the Merge. Crypto analysts additionally identified a possible state of affairs of merchants shopping for the rumor and promoting the information when the improve approaches.
Nonetheless, Coinbase’s precautionary measures might have an effect on merchants’ positions and the worth of Ethereum if the halting extends.
After the Ethereum community modifications from PoW to PoS, many individuals suppose that ETH’s vitality use will drop shortly,
it is going to be simpler to scale, and it is going to be more durable to hack. However ETH gasoline charges may not go down immediately, and transactions may not occur a lot sooner than earlier than.
A little bit over a month in the past, the crypto market has been in inexperienced, and many of the pleasure is about on Ethereum. In reality, the cryptocurrency is in a great place proper now due to the following replace, which is going on in a number of weeks.
This eagerly-awaited Merge has pushed up the worth of Ether, which is now over $2,000; this rise additionally impacts the entire crypto market, which can also be going up as a result of traders are excited and have excessive hopes.
However merchants needs to be cautious as this can be a easy bounce again throughout a bear market.
The subsequent few weeks will likely be essential for your entire cryptocurrency market, and September looks like it is going to be an actual earthquake for the ecosystem due to the Merge, which can change the Ethereum blockchain from a Proof of Work system to a Proof of Stake system.
The merge is anticipated to have a major influence on the ecosystem, and can make crypto historical past.


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THE owner of home shopping brands Littlewoods and Woolworths.co.uk today reported a 6.3% rise in festive sales after delivering nearly eight million items over Christmas.
Shop Direct Group said the sales hike in the six weeks to January 1 came after demand for online shopping soared, with its websites attracting one million customers a day.
Online sales rose 19% on a year earlier and now make up nearly two thirds of all turnover - close to the group’s target for 70% of sales via the internet by the next financial year.
An advertising campaign featuring Radio 1’s Fearne Cotton and TV presenter Holly Willoughby helped its Very.co.uk brand notch up a 26% increase in total sales.
Very, which was rebranded from Littlewoods Direct earlier this year, saw customer traffic rise 31%.
Shop Direct’s trading figures mirror good news from the high street as John Lewis and Next also today revealed robust sales over the Christmas period.
Trading was "strong" across all of its brands, according to Shop Direct, although it did not provide figures for Woolworths - relaunched online in June after it bought the brand from administrators following the retailer’s collapse.
Less cut-price clearance sales before Christmas and "stronger supplier support" helped boost profit margins this year, but sales growth slowed on the 9% seen last Christmas.
Mark Newton-Jones, group chief executive, said the rise of online shopping was extending the festive sales period.
"We found that last year customers concentrated their shopping into two weeks but this year, we have seen four equally large trading weeks; the last two weeks of November and the first two weeks of December," he said.
"We believe that the ease of shopping online allows customers to manage their shopping time more effectively, planning earlier and shopping later," he added.
More shoppers are also taking to buying online on Christmas Day, with double the number of visitors to its sites.
Electricals were among the best selling items, led by iPods, laptops and games consoles.
And in fashion, the group sold more than five dresses a minute during the holiday season, helped by high demand for its Holly Willoughby sequin dress.
However, despite the Christmas sales performance, Shop Direct joined other retailers in cautioning that 2010 will continue to be a challenging year for the sector.
Shop Direct claims to be the largest online home and shopping retailer with annual sales of around £1.7 billion and around 9,000 staff.
It is owned by Sir David and Frederick Barclay, whose other interests include the Telegraph newspaper group.
Shop Direct’s brands also include Additions, Kays, Choice, Empire Stores, Great Universal and Marshall Ward.


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KCS International Inc., the parent company of Cruisers Yachts and Rampage Sport Fishing Yachts, will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon Sept. 13 to celebrate the launch of its new showroom.
"KCS International has been working to find ways to extend resources we have on hand at our headquarters in Oconto [Wis.] to our dealer networks," said Russ Davis, director of marketing at KCS International, in a statement.
"The showroom does just that, offering dealers the opportunity to bring current owners and potential customers to see new models and personalize the experience of purchasing a new yacht," he added. "This will help build a stronger emotional bond with boaters, as well as leverage dealer growth and prosperity."
The 15,000-square-foot indoor showroom will display new inventory. This allows dealers to carry only essential models and offers customers an opportunity to participate in the VIP program and experience KCS International's boat models firsthand in one location.
The VIP program includes a personalized step-by-step tour of the production facility so boaters can develop a thorough understanding of the level of craftsmanship that goes into every vessel.


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Thomas Content offers insight on changes in the world of energy, climate change and efforts to build a greener economy.
Marcus Hotels install fast-chargers for Tesla electric cars
Owners of Tesla electric cars will be able to charge their cars while staying at a variety of Marcus Corp. hotels, the Milwaukee hospitality chain announced.
Marcus has installed Tesla fast-charging stations at 13 of its hotels and resorts, with more planned in the coming months.
Those that have installed the stations include the Pfister, Intercontinental and Hilton Milwaukee City Center hotels in MIlwaukee, as well as the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace in Madison, the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva as well as the Heidel House in Green Lake.
The Marcus charging spots are in addition to those in Wisconsin already opened by Tesla, in Pleasant Prairie, Madison, Mauston, La Crosse and Eau Claire.
"By combining the leading-edge technology and the forward-thinking of Tesla with our commitment to providing an exceptional experience for our guests, we now have the ability to offer a high-tech, eco-friendly solution for Model S owners traveling this summer,” said Brian Burton, Marcus vice president of revenue generation, in a prepared statement.
Other stations installed at Marcus properties are located in Chicago; Minneapolis; Bloomington, Minn.; Atlanta; Las Vegas; Hollywood, Calif.; and Oklahoma City.
The wall-mounted charging systems can fully charge a Tesla in four to six hours, or add up to 58 miles of driving capability in an hour.


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As the world moves towards a low-carbon future, there is a heightened range of technological advancements facilitating the transition away from fossil fuels. Transportation and energy production are two sectors that desperately need to reduce emissions, and developments in electric vehicles and battery storage are rapidly changing both markets. Lithium, sometimes referred to as “white petroleum”, is a key component in energy storage and in recent years imposes has quadrupled.
The heightened use of lithium batteries to store energy has exposed one of the dirtier sides of transitioning to a low carbon economy. To create these batteries, there is a need for a range of rare earth metals that require heavy mining and manufacturing that emit significant emissions. Furthermore, major components such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt exist in a finite amount that is unlikely to meet the current and future needs for battery units. Studies looking into the sustainability of electric vehicles point out that with the high need for new electric vehicles, the auto industry might benefit from economies of scale and as more cars are built, the more efficient and less polluting the manufacturing process. Additionally, as more batteries are created for these electric vehicles, it might create a market for the recycling of these storage devices, thereby reducing the need for new mining endeavors. (1) Have you ever wondered why the need for lithium is intimately connected to the popularity of electric vehicles? These new lithium mining and extraction processes are rumored to be on the line. Visit this article about this information!
A world in which EV assembly lines gather dust while battery manufacturers scrabble for scraps of lithium is wholly avoidable. But for producers, the solution isn’t as simple as mining more hard rock — called spodumene — or tapping more underground brine deposits to extract lithium. That’s because most of the better, easier-to-exploit reserves are already spoken for in Australia (for hard rock) and in Chile and Argentina (for brine). To drastically scale capacity, producers might also need to exploit the world’s “marginal” resources, which are costlier and more energy-intensive to develop than conventional counterparts.
Concerns about supply constraints are driving innovation in the lithium industry. A handful of proposals in North America and Europe are piloting and testing “direct lithium extraction,” an umbrella term for technologies that, generally speaking, use electricity and chemical processes to isolate and extract concentrated lithium. (2) Are you ready to discover a new source of lithium? Try looking at these zero emissions, zero trailings, and innovation integrated with existing processes of lithium mining!
Another way to bolster lithium supplies is to recover the metal from spent batteries of which there is already ample supply. Today, less than 5 percent of all spent lithium-ion batteries are recycled, in large part because the packs are difficult and expensive to dismantle. Many batteries now end up in landfills, leaching chemicals into the environment and wasting usable materials. Learn more and discover the fuel that powers electric vehicles that allow them to continually extend their production into the future! Check the disclaimer on my profile and landing page.


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A couple of months ago, Qualcomm announced its most powerful processor yet called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Now, the company has unveiled its successor, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (SM8475) flagship Mobile Platform.
Qualcomm claims that the new chipset has a 10% higher CPU performance since the peak Cortex-X2 core is now clocked at 3.2GHz compared to the 3GHz of its predecessor.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 also promises a 30% improvement in power efficiency for the CPU. Similarly, the GPU runs at a 10% higher frequency while reducing power usage by 30%. Overall, the new chip promises 15% power savings in the SoC.
Qualcomm also said that the 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine in the new chip promises up to 20% better performance per Watt to enable ultra-advanced AI use cases across the board.
The rest of the hardware inside the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is the same. It can support up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM (3,200MHz), UFS 3.1 storage, display of QHD+ at up to 144Hz or 4K at 60Hz, 10-bit rendering, and HDR10+.
For connectivity, it also retains the Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System, and Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Mobile Connectivity System for Wi-Fi speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps, over Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity includes aptX Lossless and Bluetooth LE Audio.
Moreover, with its triple 18-bit Spectra ISP, the processor can still handle up to 200MP sensors and 8K video capture at 30fps (4K at 120fps).
According to Qualcomm, the first Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 devices will be available from Q3 2022. It will power the devices of leading global OEMs and brands including ASUS ROG, Black Shark, HONOR, iQOO, Lenovo, Motorola, Nubia, OnePlus, OPPO, OSOM, realme, RedMagic, Redmi, vivo, Xiaomi, and ZTE.


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Ahead of Walmart-Flipkart deal, Amazon pumps Rs 2,600 Cr into its Indian business
Before Flipkart could see the money flowing from Walmart, Amazon has pumped in Rs 2,600 crore into its Indian business.
Amazon India secured a fund infusion of Rs 2,600 crore from its Singapore based group entity, Amazon Corporate Holdings Private Limited and Mauritius based Amazon.com.incs Limited, filings with Registrar of Companies (RoC) showed.
Amazon India run by Amazon Seller Services Private Limited issued 260 crore equity shares having a face value of Rs 10 each to both the above mentioned companies. The filings revealed that the fund infusion happened on April 26, 2018 – a time when both Walmart and Amazon were reportedly in a race to buy Flipkart.
The recent fund infusion into Amazon India will help create a bulwark in its fight with Flipkart that is reportedly going to secure billions of dollars from Amazon’s biggest rival, Walmart.
Earlie, Amazon had pumped Rs 1,950 crore into its India business in January this year. Amazon Seller Services, posted a 41 percent rise in FY17 revenue to Rs 3,128 crore, according to filings before the Registrar of Companies.
The fresh funds will provide a further boost to Amazon India. The company has been aggressively investing in expanding its infrastructure and adding solutions to enhance consumer and seller experience.
Amazon’s International losses jumped 29 percent to $622 million for the quarter ending March 2018, as against $481 million for the corresponding period in the previous year. The web retailer’s year-on-year losses from its global business continue to rise largely due to its India investments.
According to a recent Times of India report, Amazon’s CFO Brian Olsavsky had said that the ecommerce giant will continue pumping capital despite high losses. The report quotes him, “We will continue to invest in India where we are seeing great progress with both sellers and also customers. And we like the momentum we have seen there. The Prime programme started in the first year in India grew faster than any Prime programme we have seen in other countries. We are adding local and video content. We are rolling out devices there, and we are seeing Indian developers developing skills for Alexa. It is important to us that they all are still delighting customers and growing to the best of their ability.”


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PRINCETON, N.J. — The Sarnoff research and development lab announced it will attempt to market a miniature 16-bit, black and white digital camera, that it originally designed for cloak and dagger operations for the U.S. government, for use in mobile phones.
Sarnoff unveiled the new technology at the Society of Photo-Optical and Instrumentation Engineers Aerosense Conference in Orlando, Fla., last month.
The company initially created the camera as part of a contract for the U.S. government to build miniaturized surveillance cameras for covert operations, but has claimed that the technology has a variety of mass-market applications, including mobile phone imaging and automotive safety.
Measuring 1.2 inches by 1 inch, the camera runs on very low voltage and employs a CMOS sensor for 640 x 480 resolution images. Its Active Pixel Sensor technology delivers more than 100 times the dynamic range of typical cameras, a Sarnoff spokesman claimed. It also captures images faster than current digital technology: it can power up and snap an image in under one-tenth of a second. In addition to still capability, the camera can capture video at 30 frames-per-second. Sarnoff is also said to be working on a “camera-friendly” compression technology that will allow higher resolution still and video images to be captured.
A spokesman for Sarnoff said the camera is currently available in prototype quantities and price and won’t be seen on the mass market until a manufacturer licenses the technology. Sarnoff is currently in discussion with several American and Asian digital and mixed signal chip and camera makers.


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Tomorrow, there will be another fierce battle in the Dutch ‘war for discounts’.
This war between the large supermarket chains and their (often small and relatively powerless) suppliers, is turning into a nasty trench war.
The supermarkets want to squeeze the last cent of margin out of their suppliers. These suppliers, however, desperately try to defend their scarce profits, while at the same time trying to unite themselves in a legal fashion.
The latest move on the discount front was made by the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo.
In September, this chain retroactively demanded an extra discount from its suppliers of 1.25% over the whole year 2012. Jumbo made this move very shortly after Albert Heijn tried the same. At the time, I already expected this would happen soon:
A nasty side-effect is that when Albert Heijn gets away with this, other large supermarket chains and central buying organizations will try to do the same trick (Jumbo, SuperUnie).
Tomorrow, December 4, 2012, a large number of angry pig farmers will organize a protest manifestation against Jumbo and its unilatterally demanded discount. The Dutch newspaper NRC writes on this story (www.nrc.nl).
Tomorrow-morning, pigfarmers will keep a protest manifestation at the headoffice of Jumbo supermarkets in Veghel (Brabant). They protest against the unilateral price-reduction that this supermarket chain imposed on them.
In September, 2012 – at about the same time as the largest supermarket chain Albert Heijn – Jumbo demanded an extra discount from its suppliers, in order to pay for the opening of its new branches.
The supermarket chain demands retroactively a discount of 1.25% from its suppliers over the full year 2012. The Dutch Pigfarmer Union (NVV) has stated in a conversation with Jumbo that ‘this demand is unacceptable, as pigfarmers already make very small profits’.
When the supermarket asked to come with an alternative, the NVV proposed to calculate combinedly, how much profit pigfarmers actually keep from their activities. According to the pigfarmers, Jumbo had only time for resuming consultations the day after X-Mas.
This date is unacceptable for the pigfarmers as the discount arrangements will be effectuated sooner. They consider themselves not to be taken seriously by Jumbo. The NVV wants to give a signal that the abuse of power by the supermarket chains will no longer be tolerated by the pigfarmers.
Member of the European Parliament Kartika Liotard already stated in September that the discount demands of Jumbo and Albert Heijn were possibly violating EU-regulations. These chains have a combined market share of 55% in The Netherlands. They would abuse their position of power by almost simultaneously demanding an extra discount.
Inquiring minds would say that the ‘modus operandi’ of Jumbo and Albert Heijn in this matter looks, smells and feels like a cartel and is nothing less than abuse of power. I will not argue with them.
Only 15 years ago, the Dutch supermarket landscape was clearly more divided: there was one clearly stronger party (Albert Heijn) and a number of trailing, almost equally strong chains.
Since then, the Konmar, Super de Boer and C1000 supermarket chains have slowly, but surely disappeared, due to mergers, near-bankruptcies and takeovers. Although there are nowadays still a substantial number of C1000 supermarkets, this chain has in fact been taken over by Jumbo last year. Therefore the brand C1000 will cease to exist in a few years.
Further, there are a number of discounter chains (Lidl, Aldi and Dirk van de Broek) with national coverage. On top of that you have the nationwide operating Plus full-service supermarket chain and a few ‘local heroes’ with a substantial market share in a few limited areas.
There is competition, but this competition doesn’t have enough firepower to stop the domination of Albert Heijn and Jumbo.
This domination is bad for the customer, who does often have a very limited choice for buying his groceries within a few miles from home. And it’s also bad for the suppliers of these chains, who are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Abandoning 1.25% from their 2012 yields might cause these (often) small companies and farmers to default, as a consequence of too narrow margins.
On the other hand: losing Albert Heijn and Jumbo as customers is nothing less than a disaster. This might also cause these small suppliers to default.
Therefore I wholeheartedly applaude the actions of the pigfarmers tomorrow. Somebody must stop these chains that are seemingly playing outside the rules.


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The e coli outbreak in Germany will, tragically, likely prove to be the largest in history. And just last weekend, a child in Virginia was killed by e coli. So, for the purpose of reviewing our sad, food safety track record, here are five major e coli outbreaks in recent U.S. history.
1. 2007: Topps Meat Comany recalls more than 21 million pounds of beef due to e coli contamination. The Elizabeth, New Jersey company was founded in 1940, but closed after the e coli recall, which at the time was the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history. The largest was Hudson Foods, which in 1997 recalled 25 million pounds of beef.
2. 2007: United Food Group recalls nearly 6 million pounds of ground beef after 14 are sickened across 11 states with e coli.
3. 2006: Taco Bell sickens 39 across New Jersey with produce tainted with e coli. It was first suspected green onions were the cause, but later it was discevered lettuce could be the culprit.
4. 2006: Spinach tainted with e coli kills three people and sickens 198 people across the U.S. The spinach was packaged by Eathbound Farm.
5. 2002: E coli also sparked the third largest ground beef recall in history when ConAgra recalled more than 19 million pounds when 18 people were sickened after eating hamburgers that came from a ConAgra plant in Greeley, Colo.


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Thanks in part to low interest rates and an improving economy, new car and truck sales hit their highest level in almost six years last month: nearly 1.5 million vehicles sold.
The numbers are so much better than expected so far this year that analysts at Edmunds.com added another 500-thousand cars and trucks to this year's projection.
"Consumers are feeling a lot more confident. Their stock portfolios are fatter, their housing value has reversed direction and is going up and those all make the consumer feel better, feel more confident to go make a big purchase like a car," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Edmunds.com.
March was the best month automaker Nissan has ever had.
Chrysler's U.S. sales rose 5 percent.
They sold more cars and trucks than in any month since December of 2007.
Sales grew six-percent at Ford, and 6.4% at GM.
Bankrate.com says the average rate for a 60-month new-car loan fell to 4.1 percent from 4.5 percent at this time last year.
While Phil LeBeau, who covers the auto industry for cnbc, says a lot of the demand is driven by need.
"A lot of people are driving vehicles that are 10, 11, 12 years old. They need a new car or truck, and at this point, this is the right time to go in and buy one," said LeBeau.
He says the product's gotten better, too, to include pricing, style and performance.
"Whether it's fuel economy, whether it's infotainment, across the board, these are probably the best looking cars and trucks we've seen in a generation," said LeBeau.
Tax refunds may also be helping.
The average federal tax refund this year is nearly $3,000, which is plenty to cover a down payment on a new car.
Tiger Woods was busted early Monday for allegedly driving under the…
A federal appeals court Thursday upheld one of two bans on enforcing…
A tearful former Rep. Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty Friday to sexting…


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Will a new tenant invigorate the Lansing Mall?
DELTA TOWNSHIP -- Impact Church's motto: "Come as you are, not as you're not."
It's a message that appears to fit well with Impact's mission for its soon-to-be new location: Lansing Mall.
"We don't pretend to know that we know what we’re doing," said Tiny Moore, the church's pastor, laughing when asked about its plans.
While some may call the mall a slowly dying relic at West Saginaw and Elmwood, Moore sees it as the starting line for a spiritual quest.
Plans call for this place of worship to open sometime in July.
The church, once in downtown Grand Ledge, has already spent about $15,000 to retrofit its new space — a former Finish Line sports apparel store.
This bold investment comes at a time when malls across the country keep bleeding tenants. Lansing Mall lost its Macy's a year ago and will lose Younkers by the end of August.
"Our hope is that we can breathe some life into the mall," Moore said.
Impact posts on its Facebook page that "church doesn't have to be boring" and has a goal of attracting at least 100 people to the mall each Sunday morning.
Like other enclosed shopping complexes, Lansing Mall has its share of challenges.
The mall's assessed value is $10,305,000 and has decreased about 40% over the past eight to 10 years, said Ted Droste, Delta Township's assessor.
The assessed value includes JCPenney, but not Regal Cinema, Younkers and the former Macy's spots, which are assessed separately for a combined $6 million.
Meridian Mall, about 15 miles east in Okemos, has experienced its share of closures but has an assessed value that's stayed steady. It's $31,623,700 in 2018 and was $30,561,600 in 2008, said David Lee, Meridian Township's assessor.
Lansing Mall is owned by New York-based Rouse Properties, a company that has stayed quiet about its future.
Matthew Chudoba, a Rouse spokesperson, said in an email to the State Journal the ownership group "respectfully declined to comment" about the Lansing property.
Rouse owns four other malls in Michigan, all outside the Lansing area.
Lansing Mall opened in 1969, cost $18 million to build and had $30 million in renovations in 2002, according to its website.
The mall is bracing to lose a second anchor tenant in 16 months when Younkers closes in August as part of a series of nationwide cuts. Macy's left last April.
It's also lost smaller tenants. Friday, a State Journal reporter counted at least 15 retail spaces that appeared vacant and several more storefronts that were re-purposed as displays.
The mall's food court was about half full.
JCPenney is still there, but the company closed 138 stores across the U.S. last year and intends to shutter eight outside of Michigan by mid-May.
Lansing Mall's shaky status has Delta Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher concerned, but he sees opportunities for the mall to reinvent itself.
Fletcher admits it took awhile to accept the church concept.
"We were asking (the mall) ‘Is this the direction you want to go?'" Fletcher said.
The mall's website currently lists nearly 70 tenants. That includes businesses outside the mall but within its parking lot footprint facing West Saginaw Highway. Those include Best Buy, Applebee's, Logan's Roadhouse, Longhorn Steakhouse and Panera Bread.
Fletcher said some local officials have discussed ideas that may help the mall, including construction of senior housing on the property.
There's also been some talk about an open-air shopping experience similar to Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township.
“I guess anything is a possible," Fletcher said. "But it’s up to the company that owns the mall.”
The mall also has a number of high-profile tenants that have survived. A few of note: Barnes & Noble, Dunham's Sports, Shoe Carnival. T.J. Maxx, Campus Den, Aeropostale, Victoria's Secret and Foot Locker.
Moore, Impact's pastor, refuses to get caught up in any negativity.
He's excited about cross-promotion opportunities with his neighbors. Two bars and a the Regal Cinema movie theater occupy the same north wing.
"Come to church and a movie," Moore said. "Come to church and have a beer. We don’t care!"
Lansing Athletics sports apparel, an existing mall tenant, welcomes outside-the-box thinking, said Alfonso Salas, the store's owner.
Salas praises the mall for being well maintained.
For the complex to experience a true rebirth, Salas said mall management must offer more rent and leasing incentives to help absorb the blows online shopping retailers constantly deliver.
“If I want to stay on top of things, I need to make some changes myself," Salas said. "I try to do a lot of different things to keep the wheels rolling.
"Amazon is going to kick our butts and is trying to take us down.”
It took about a year for Impact Church to put its plan in motion.
Services are currently held at the Ramada Lansing Hotel and Conference Center on West Saginaw Highway in the township.
Before then, the church occupied a building in downtown Grand Ledge that's now a gym.
There are no guarantees; the church has committed to a year-to-year lease.
"God is taking care of us every step of the way," Moore said. "We don’t know if we’re here forever. It could be a season. It could be a year, It could be two years. It could be 20.”
Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.


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By Nonhlanhla Phuti
The Timber Producers Association of Zambia is urging government to consider formalizing trade ties with Tanzania and Malawi to allow the country import timber as the Zambia Forestry and Forest Industries Corporation –ZAFFICO- may fail to satisfy the timber market.
Association President Charles Masange says there is a high possibility that ZAFFICO may not be able to supply timber traders with enough stock as it is likely to close in the next one year for 10 years as they await for timber in Chinsali and other parts of the country to mature.
Mr. Masange has since called on government to consider granting the association a piece of land that can be used to harbor timber bought from Tanzania to be sold to local traders in an event that ZAFFICO is unable to supply the timber.
In an interview, Mr. Masange has since encouraged timber traders to be innovative and find solutions to supplying the Zambian market with timber when ZAFFICO is unable to.
But ZAFFICO Public Relations Manager Irene Chipili has told Phoenix News that there is currently a shortage of round wood on the market due to high demand and assures that the cooperation has taken in several measures aimed at addressing the current deficit such as replanting trees every year among others.
CREDIT: PHOENIX NEWS


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By Dr. Karen Reddington, President of FedEx Express, South Pacific
Today’s supply chains form the arteries and veins that keep global trade alive, connecting a largely borderless, always-on world economy.
New innovations offer disruptive possibilities for the future of global trade. It’s easy to hypothesize that Star Trek-style teleportation, drones, 3-D printing, and space logistics, will change trading. But the biggest shift to the supply chain will see it digitally connected and becoming part of the Internet of Things.
Complete visibility and control.
Certain pieces of the supply chain are already connected so packages can be tracked and monitored. But in the future even more tiny embedded sensors will enable more pervasive tagging. There’ll be sophisticated two-way communication with shipments and the human management or other connected devices. This will provide an unprecedented level of visibility and control of critical information such as location, temperature, light exposure, humidity, barometric pressure or shock.
Take healthcare. Fraud and security is a widespread menace in this now global industry. World Health Organization (WHO) figures show eight percent of medical products are suspected to be counterfeit, while pharmaceutical theft is becoming more widespread and sophisticated. Supply chain control and visibility is absolutely vital for healthcare as shipments are life-critical, sensitive and can be near-impossible to replace. Imagine if a package of medicine that was personalized for the DNA of a cancer patient were spoiled or stolen. You can’t pull a substitute off the warehouse shelf.
Complete connection will see near-molecular precision for managing global trade, offering new opportunities for logistical efficiency and control.
The intelligent supply chain.
An ever growing amount of information will be emitted as more of the supply chain is connected. This continuous flow of real-time data feeding artificial intelligence (AI) will bring an utmost level of efficiency and refinement. Adding AI into logistics unshackles manufacturers, suppliers and buyers to fine tune their inventory to actual demand. And when enough data on buying patterns has been gathered, AI can predict and manage at a granular level – reducing costly human errors and delays.
We’ll see the true transformative potential of data nourishing AI as we enter the next phase of the Internet of Things. Everyday objects – from refrigerators to toasters to cars – are set to be equipped with sensors that help manage how they operate and improving our lives. Connecting objects will have spectacular effects on supply chains and global trade. It’ll mean your refrigerator interacts with your supermarket ensuring your essentials are always stocked, which in turn will create orders with suppliers across the world. It’ll mean a connected part of a car engine detecting when it’ll soon need replacing, alerting the dealer and in-turn the part being automatically ordered from the manufacturer overseas. If you expand this concept beyond an individual and include hospitals, factories, businesses and countries, you get a sense of the impact a digitally connected supply chain will have on how the world flows.
Modern supply chains that are the core of global commerce have come a long way from a cart pulled by a horse to market. With the supply chain becoming part of the Internet of Things we’ll see a profound impact on global trade and how humankind is connected. We’ll live in world that is more intelligent, finely tuned, accessible, reliable and sustainable than ever. Right now, the superhighway of the world economy has never been more advanced. The even better news is it’s still under construction – the not so distant future will see the arteries of global trade become highly intelligent and semi-autonomous.
Karen Reddington is President of Asia Pacific Division of FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company. In this role, which Dr. Reddington took up in January 2015, she heads up Asia Pacific from its headquarters in Hong Kong. The Asia Pacific Division comprises three regions: North Pacific, based in Tokyo; China, based in Shanghai; and South Pacific, based in Singapore. Dr. Reddington is responsible for leading the FedEx business across the region, including overall planning and implementation of corporate strategies and operations across 30 countries and territories with more than 18,000 employees.


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Great tips for traveling families (or individuals). “Travel-savvy physicians, pharmacists and scientists suggest that some grocery items available almost anywhere can do double duty for on-the-road ailments. “You don’t need to pack a medicine chest on holiday,” said Dave Harcombe, a pharmacist in Doncaster, England. “I rely on traditional medicine to pay my mortgage,” he […]
Greetings! Hope you like our site.


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More than 40 regional and international expert speakers are heading to Qatar for the Annual Global Wellness Summit, which takes place this month.
The event, now in its 17th edition, serves as the heart of the multi-trillion-dollar global wellness economy and 2023 – themed A Time Of Transformation – will focus on mental health and well-being, traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine and the latest trends across the wellness industry.
Hosted by Msheireb Properties and being staged at Msheireb Downtown from November 6 to 9, it serves as the ultimate platform for industry leaders, visionaries and innovators to come together and shape the future of the wellness economy. The event attracts renowned thought leaders and speakers from across the globe, making it an essential gathering for anyone invested in the wellness sector.
The list of prominent speakers includes:
- Headliner Timbaland, multi-platinum, Grammy awardwinning music producer who fought back from a painkiller addiction, took up boxing and became a fitness advocate.
- HRH Princess Tatiana Blatnik of Greece and Denmark, International Ambassador of The Hellenic Initiative and philanthropist at mindful mental health movement Breathe Hellas;
- Eng Ali Al Kuwari, Msheireb Properties CEO;
- Andy Coulson, award-winning journalist and host of the podcast Crisis What Crisis?;
- Anita Mendiratta, Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation;
- Dr. Anjan Chatterjee, Professor of Neurology, Psychology and Architecture, and Founding Director of the Penn Centre for Neuroaesthetics;
- Dr. Deborah Birx, former White House Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator and Chief Medical and Science Advisor at pathogen purification company ActivePure;
- Freddie Moross, Founder and CEO of music-forwellbeing company, Myndstream; Krip Rojanastien, Chairman and CEO of Chiva-Som International Health Resorts;
- Michelle A. Williams, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health;
- Nerio Alessandri, Founder and CEO of Technogym, a global supplier of products, technologies, and solutions for the wellness and fitness sectors;
- Noella Gabriel, Co-founder and Global President of the Elemis skincare brand;
- Ramla Ali, a British-Somali professional boxer, model, activist and brand ambassador with SIRO Hotels, Cartier and UNICEF;
- Dr. Richard Carmona, former Surgeon General of the US and Chief of Health Innovations at Canyon Ranch;
- Simone Biles, U.S. gymnast and mental health advocate;
- Phillipe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International, which owns the Atlantis Resort and Residences and One&Only Resorts brands worldwide;
- Jeremy Jauncey, Founder and CEO of travel industry company Beautiful Destinations;
- Dr. Bibi Ayesha Lockhat, Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine (TAIM) Specialist at Zulal Wellness Resort by Chiva-Som in Qatar; and
- Dana Nassour, Director of Content at Fashion Trust Arabia ✤
GO: VISIT GLOBALWELLNESSSUMMIT.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ATTENDANCE.


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Specsavers in Honiton, Chard and Exmouth teamed up with the Exmouth Journal, Sidmouth Herald and Midweek Herald to give fabulous readers aged 50 and over the chance to win some great prizes. The stores encouraged over 50s to take part and send in a photograph of themselves celebrating everything that is fabulous about being over 50.
One winner Margaret Burrough from Chard, pictured, has won a £200 Specsavers voucher and a two course Sunday carvery for two at Woodbury Park.
Choosing from frames
Stephen Watson, store director of Specsavers Chard says: ‘We are so happy that our Chard customer Margaret is one of the winners of the Fabulous from 50 competition. She was delighted to have received the voucher and is looking forward to choosing from all frames on offer
Proud of glasses
We want to encourage glasses wearers over 50 across the region to be proud of the glasses they wear as we hope they all feel fabulous in them!’


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News by Topic
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Study: Mobile banner ads very unpopular
Mobile users in the UK aren't happy about the amount of ads they're being subjected to on their mobile devices. The worst offenders, according to YouGov research commissioned by Upstream, are banner ads.
Awareness of ads on smartphones is high. A YouGov study last year found that almost half of Apple users (46%), 42% of O2 customers and 40% of 3 customers remember seeing advertising on their mobile device.
But, and it's a big but for advertisers, the vast majority of consumers turn a blind eye to these ads. YouGov's study discovered a whopping 88% ignore ads in apps and 86% ignore ads on the mobile web. Overall over three-quarters (79%) said ads on their mobile devices are irritating.
YouGov's most recent study of 2,054 UK mobile users, commissoned by Upstream, contains more bad news for mobile advertisers. Mobile users still feel there are too many ads taking up space on their mobile screens.
How much is too much? The report finds that "too much advertising" means, on average, more than once per month although among younger age groups (18-24) once a week was deemed too often.
Among British mobile users 64% said mobile ads were offensive and banner ads particularly so. Over three-quarters find banner ads irritating. Only 11% of UK mobile users said they had ever clicked on a banner ad on the mobile web and even less, 1%, click on banner ads frequently.
"Consumers are not generally averse to being marketed to, but the past decade of ever-increasing volumes across all available channels is finally taking its toll," said Marco Veremis, chairman of Upstream.
"Mobile is the next frontier in advertisers' sights, driven by the promise of long-anticipated developments in handset technology and marketing opportunities in apps, such those rumored for Facebook. However, marketers need to be especially mindful that the mobile will always be a deeply personal medium and to avoid a backlash, any advertising must be personal, intimate and targeted."
- Twitter ups ad relevancy with Tailored Audiences
- Research reveals poor uptake and awareness of NFC payments
- Facebook far and away most frequently used mobile app
- The best practices for mobile brands in 2014
- Forecast: Big data to push SMBs into 2014
- Report: TV ads pushing engagement, intent
- Report: Online wide open for CPG brands
- Webrooming, Showrooming pushing shopper engagement
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- 5 Questions About Managing Social Media that You Should Ask Your Agency
This white paper provides you with 5 questions you should ask agencies to help you separate the real candidates from...
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Engagement on Twitter can help companies build brand awareness, strengthen customer relations and cultivate brand advocacy. These 10 tips lay...


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Kylie Minogue has signed a new deal with Jay-Z's label Roc Nation.
The singer is the latest star to join the company which already manages artists such as Rihanna, Rita Ora and MIA.
Jay Z wrote on his website Life and Times, "Roc Nation would like to welcome Aussie singer, recording artist, songwriter, actress and designer Kylie Minogue to the family.
"In a career now spanning 25 years, Kylie has released 11 studio albums, two live CDs, eight live concert DVDs, a greatest hits double album, and multiple video packages.
"She has released over 50 hit singles worldwide, including the Grammy-winning Come Into My World, and has sold more than 68 million albums worldwide. Needless to say, we're excited to have Kylie join the Roc fam."
The label tweeted out the news saying:
While Kylie tweeted fans, "Kisses from my new home rocnation #KM2013ROC."
Minogue's signing to Roc Nation follows Timbaland's new deal with the company earlier this week.
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China wants to build plants in Kazakhstan: Li Keqiang 17 декабря 2014, 16:08
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang expressed China’s readiness to build plants in Kazakhstan during the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana, Tengrinews reports.
“At the moment (China and Kazakhstan) are developing a framework agreement for our cooperation. China is very advanced in equipment and technology and we are ready to supply glass, cement and agro-processing plants to Kazakhstan. This is complementary to the idea of Nurly Zhol program,” Li Keqiang said.
On December 14, China signed a currency swap agreement with Kazakhstan for three years to boost trade and investments between the countries.
“To withstand the challenges of the complex economic situation today, we are ready to create more favourable conditions for partnership in trade and investments. We are ready to consider further ways of diminishing trade and investment barriers with our partners in (SCO) and give more access to our markets,” Li Keqiang added.
Earlier, Li Keqiang also offered Kazakhstan help with the development of the infrastructure.
As a part of the official visit of Chinese Premier, Kazakhstan and China signed agreements totally worth $14 billion.
Li Keqiang met President Nazarbayev to discuss the key issues of the trade and economic, investments, energy, transport cooperation between the two nations.
By Gyuzel Kamalova
- Nursultan Nazarbayev
- Shanghai Cooperation Organization


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Suave sheds light on hair tricks used in ads with new campaign
Suave is pushing back against false advertising in hair commercials with a new campaign. In a move to no longer use exaggerated claims, impossible results and ridiculous expectation in its ads, the Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based company will be allowing the quality of its products speak for themselves.
The brand will be using models who styled their own hair using Suave Professionals products. To kick off the campaign, the company shared behind-the-scenes videos that showcase the finishing poles used to simulate shine and foot-long extensions used to show long and effortless tresses.
“Our research showed that most women don’t believe they can get the hair they see in hair care advertising, and that really stuck with us,” Jennifer Bremner, marketing director for Suave, said. “We wanted to show her beautiful hair that she could easily get on her own, which is why our models did their own hair with Suave. Suave has been making salon quality products for more than 80 years and we are confident in letting our results do the talking.”
In a survey conducted by Edelman Intelligence, results show that only 2-in-10 millennial women were actually aware of some of the most commonly used tricks in advertising. The Unilever-owned brand wants consumers to choose products that work best for them and believes what consumers see in advertising should be styled in a manner that is achievable.
“Throughout my career, I’ve seen many of these tricks up close, whether it’s on a movie set or a cover shoot,” Ursula Stephens, Suave Professionals celebrity hair stylist, said. “I’ve used Suave to create more styles than I can remember on so many different clients, and I know that the products will always deliver quality results.”
More information can be found on the company’s website, or by connecting on social media using the hashtag #SuaveBeliver.
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If you’re a top 10 carrier you will rely on the likes of Amazon, Ikea and Unilever for a very considerable chunk of your business. In one fell swoop you will have become acutely aware yesterday that you can no longer invest in pricey LNG-fuelled ships that ought to be trading for a lifetime of 25 years.
Some of the world’s largest shippers came together on Wednesday, just days away from the major international climate summit, COP26, vowing to progressively switch all of their ocean freight to vessels powered by zero-carbon fuels by 2040.
Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, Inditex, the world’s biggest clothing retailer along with consumer goods giant Unilever, tyre manufacturer Michelin, Tchibo, one of Germany’s largest retail chains, Patagonia, Brooks Running, and FrogBikes are the first signatories to a 2040 ambition statement facilitated by Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV).
Importantly, the signatories have committed to absolute zero emissions on a full lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions counting basis in contrast to net zero emissions, thus ruling out carbon offsets.
So these giants of the retail world, many of whom in recent months have come under very public pressure about their shipping carbon footprints from well publicised NGO stunts, they are all now telling their liner partners that all of their cargoes must be moved on ships that do not use fossil fuels in just 19 years’ time.
Where container shipping leads on environmental matters, other segments tend to follow. How soon before car manufacturers and miners feel like they ought to issue similar directives to their PCTC and dry bulk partners, for instance?
Dr Nishatabbas Rehmatulla, principal research fellow at the UCL Energy Institute, who helped come up with the groundbreaking coZEV initiative, summed up shipping’s changed green reality in a post on LinkedIn yesterday in which he noted: “In case it wasn’t clear: the signatories have gone for zero GHG emissions on a full lifecycle GHG emissions accounting basis. The International Maritime Organization should take note as it discusses mid-term measures and rules around zero emission fuels, anything lower or different will create risks for carriers/shipowners but create opportunities for early movers.
Rehmatulla went on to add: “It was easy for the consumer-facing brands to call a spade a spade and write off LNG, it’s a fossil fuel and does not have a scalable pathway to genuine zero emissions fuels.”
With festive shopping very much in the headlines these days, I am reminded of a slogan that tends to do the rounds this time of the year: Pets are for life, not just for Christmas. Similarly, ships contracted today will be around for years after the big shippers’ 2040 deadline.


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- Auto Technology
- 1 min read
Ola Electric invests in Israel-based StoreDot for fast charging technology
The investment in StoreDot is the first of several global strategic investments planned by Ola Electric as it looks to ramp up its core R&D in advanced cell chemistry and manufacturing as well as other battery technologies and new energy systems”, the company said.
New Delhi: Ola Electric on Monday said it has invested in the Israeli battery technology company StoreDot, which makes batteries with extreme fast charging (XFC) technology.
“The investment in StoreDot is the first of several global strategic investments planned by Ola Electric as it looks to ramp up its core R&D in advanced cell chemistry and manufacturing as well as other battery technologies and new energy systems”, the EV maker said in a statement.
As part of the investment in StoreDot, Ola Electric will have access to the company’s XFC battery technology that charges a battery from 0 to 100% in just 5 minutes. Ola will also have exclusive rights to manufacture batteries integrating StoreDot’s fast charge technology in India.
Bhavish Aggarwal, founder & CEO, Ola, said, “We are committed to Mission Electric and to accelerate the world’s transition to electric mobility. Our ambition is to build a complete ecosystem for EVs here in India. The future of EVs lies in better, faster and high energy density batteries, capable of rapid charging and delivering higher range.”
“We are increasing our investments in core cell and battery technologies and ramping up our in-house capabilities and global talent hiring, as well as partnering with global companies doing cutting-edge work in this field,” he said.
Doron Myersdorf, CEO, StoreDot, said, “We are extremely excited to be entering into this strategic partnership with Ola. Both the companies are committed to delivering a zero-emissions world, breathing clean air in our cities and ensuring that EV drivers never have to worry about charging times and range anxiety.”
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Second Movement: Sony's E3 2016 Press Conference
June 14, 2016
Written by Rory
Sony had an absolute blinder of a conference last year; on the back of three major game reveals that absolutely nobody saw coming it hands down dominated the show. This year the audience went in knowing there was no possible way they could match that show, but boy did Sony still try.
The show opened with an epic sounding symphonic score and low guttural choir, culminating in the reveal of the next God Of War. Bringing with it a new over-the-shoulder perspective instead of the fixed camera angles of past games, it introduces Kratos as an amusingly bad parent with a young protege in a new Norse setting, with shades of The Last Of Us in the action.
After a cinematic trailer for new survival franchise Days Gone (we’ll get to that later), last year’s opening hit The Last Guardian received a new trailer and — finally — a release date: October 25 this year, at once sooner than expected and about damn time.
Next up was a gameplay demo of Horizon: Zero Dawn, another game that impressed last year. As what seems like a hybrid of Fallout and Skyrim, the game showed off Aloy’s hunting and gathering skills, and the ability to tame the wild robotic animals of the game world. This was interrupted by a set piece, showing off the game’s Mass Effect-style conversation engine, and a boss fight against a fast-moving robotic ‘demon’ entity, seen turning the native animals feral somehow, teasing at the game’s overall narrative perhaps.
After last year’s debut of Detroit: Become Human, we were given a better idea of how the game would be structured. We got a look at Connor, an android police officer and detective, called into a hostage situation involving another android. Tidbits of detective gameplay were shown of Connor investigating crime scenes and questioning people, building up to a dramatic standoff on a balcony, showing off the game’s branching narrative. Again, a very impressive looking title.
This was followed up by a moody, gritty horror title, opening with a man exploring an abandoned house, followed by clips of in-game death and decay. It wasn’t until the title card that we learned we were actually looking at Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, marking a great departure from the corny, arcadey narrative style of past games. The game left an impression that’ll remain until it launches next year, complete with PlayStation VR compatibility.
Sony’s foray into VR will start on 13 October, promising 50 games before the end of the year, including Farpoint, Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission, Batman Arkham VR, and Final Fantasy XV: VR Experience where VR players will taking the role of sidekick Prompto.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare flew onto stage boasting its newfound spacefaring gameplay. Combat takes place in traditional boots-on-ground environments, zero-gravity settings where navigation is by grappling hook, and in aerial and space fighters, allowing for deployment to enemy positions. The gameplay itself looked very far removed from past Call of Duty games, to the point that it was barely recognisable until the logo appeared.
Then came something of a major surprise: Crash Bandicoot will return to the Playstation after a long absence. Remasters of the first three Crash titles from the original Playstation were announced, coming some time after Crash returns as part of Skylanders: Imaginators, which itself promised a new level of creativity.
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens boasted the Lego games’ typical quirky sense of humour. It also featured the franchise’s new cover-based shooting mechanics, which alienated at least this particular viewer.
Hideo Kojima then walked on stage with the sort of entrance reserved for one of EA’s super sports guest stars and to a reception from the crowd like the next coming of the messiah. Kojima unveiled his first project from his new development house: A strange trailer titled Death Stranding featuring naked former PT star Norman Reedus. It’s hard to tell what sort of game we saw, and it’s likely at a very early stage, so who knows when we’ll see everything else.
We then received confirmation of rumours that Insomniac Games and Marvel are getting together to create a Spider-Man game. Visually, the game seems to draw inspiration from Marvel’s cinematic universe, but what gameplay snippets were shown demonstrated what could be the best attempt at capturing the essence of Spider-Man in game form yet, something that’s been tricky for most developers.
The conference closed with a gameplay demo of Days Gone. The cinematic trailer earlier showed off a world decimated by an apocalyptic attack of some kind, putting the player in the shoes of a biker turned bounty hunter and mercenary, focused on survival. In action the game has something of a Last Of Us vibe, with the player scavenging ruins for gear, adapting for instance an old car part as a makeshift silencer for his gun. The apocalyptic menace is later confirmed to be zombies which, in a unique twist, are the World War Z-style fast-and-agile variety.
This year’s Sony press conference came much, much closer to topping last year’s phenomenal effort than I’d dared dream, only falling just short. Bucking Sony’s usual trend of favouring games not expected for years, a number of the bigger titles this year, like The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV, are relatively close at hand. Ultimately, there was still a lingering impression that something was missing. Maybe it was the lack of indie titles, maybe it was the absence of the PlayStation Neo so soon after Microsoft showed us Project Scorpio; Sony needed just one more knockout punch title. Despite that, it was still a fantastic outing for Sony fans, who have a lot to look forward to in the coming year.


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【Morningstar Hong Kong】
HONG KONG, Jan. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- GS1 Hong Kong (GS1 HK) and Zenecom International Group Co. Ltd (Zenecom) formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement to launch "HK Trusted Market + WJH" initiative. Capitalising on the cross-border "Big Health" e-commerce platform WJH, the programme aims to bring premium Hong Kong's over-the-counter medicines, health supplement, beauty and skincare products (Coin as "Big Health" below) to Mainland China O2O (online-to-offline) platforms.
The pandemic-driven "Big Health" industry stands out in the sluggish global economy. According to "Healthy China 2030" blueprint issued by The State Council, the scale of China'shealth service industry is expected to reach 16 trillion RMB in 2030. The national policy, coupled with an aging population and the lasting epidemic, has resulted in the soaring growth for medical, healthcare products and online shopping. Meanwhile, thanks to the pilot project of importing pharmaceutical products for cross-border e-commerce by the Chinese government, Zenecom, a cross-border e-commerce pilot enterprise approved by the government, is going to bring tremendous opportunities for the "Big Health" industry in Hong Kong.
Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 HK stated, "Our members revealed numerous obstacles to develop in the Mainland China. To help resolve their issues, GS1 HK decides to join hands with Zenecom to launch this programme that pledges authentic products, paving the way for Hong Kong & overseas companies to flourish under the O2O new retail model in the mainland."
The cross-border e-marketplace "HK Trusted Market+WJH" by GS1 HK and Zenecom is designed to enable Hong Kong & overseas business to bank on the growing "Big Health" opportunities in Mainland China. Zenecom will provide one-stop services covering online and offline product listing, marketing, and sales operations. Products listed onto the platform via the programme will be given an exclusive anti-counterfeiting QR code, "REAL Barcode" provided by GS1 HK to ensure the authenticity of its source, enhancing confidence of consumers in Mainland China. By scanning the REAL label with electronic device, GS1 HK's REAL Barcode app (or its webpage) will be activated to allow consumers scan and authenticate the products.
Mr. Roy Lei, Chief Executive of Zenecom stated, "WJH aims to provide mainland consumers with genuine and authentic "Big Health" products. As a cross-border e-commerce platform with integrated marketing strategy, we look forward to developing the "Big Health" market in Mainland China with overseas brands."
The "HK Trusted Market + WJH" programme provides comprehensive one-stop omni-channel marketing services, ranging from customs declaration, products listing, cross-border and Mainland China's logistics and storage, diversified online promotion to offline product display, etc. The process of customs declaration for cross-border products can be completed within 15 days, then the merchants can ship large quantities of goods to Zenecom's well-equipped bonded warehouse in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. The products will be delivered directly from the bonded warehouse in Mainland China to the customers after their online purchase, which is time-saving.


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EVERY day, tractor-trailer rigs pull up to the loading dock of an old paper warehouse on the bank of the Genesee River here and unload donated food. The sturdy concrete warehouse was a donation itself, to Foodlink, a nonprofit wholesaler that distributes about six million pounds of food each year to soup kitchens, food pantries and meals-on-wheels programs in the Finger Lakes region of western New York.
In the last decade, government has shifted onto charities the job of making food available to the poor, unemployed, disabled and housebound. Foodlink is one of 230 nonprofit food banks that are vital to a large portion of Americans who might otherwise go hungry.
From 1977 to 1997, one in four Americans at some point received federal food stamps, Labor Department studies show, as millions of people slipped in and out of poverty depending on the strength of the job market, changes in marital status and other conditions. Similar numbers depend on soup kitchens, food pantries and other charitable organizations for food, especially when jobs are scarce.
Food banks are now caught in a financial vise, squeezed on one side by rising demand for food, especially from the long-term unemployed, and on the other side by shrinking donations from food manufacturers and cuts in federal spending. At the same time, food banks face a growing demand for cash. They must buy about a third of the food they distribute, mostly items that fill gaps between what is donated and what is needed to prepare balanced meals. And food banks have their own operating expenses, from maintaining refrigeration rooms to fueling trucks and vans that deliver groceries to charities.
Janet Poppendieck, a professor of sociology at Hunter College who has studied food banks and nutrition among the poor, said that ''there is a built-in squeeze on food banks, a constant downward pressure on supplies, which means they have to work harder and harder to get the same level of supply.''Continue reading the main story
She compared it with ''extracting oil from a declining field where you have to do more and more to get less and less out.''
Tom Ferraro, the executive director of Foodlink since he founded it in 1976, said that ''the meat and potatoes for food banks used to be the waste and mistakes of production.''
''Too much oregano in the spaghetti sauce, or too little, and we would be offered tractor-trailer load after tractor-trailer load of the stuff that tasted fine, was perfectly nutritious, but did not meet the manufacturers' standards,'' he said.
''Back then there were tons of boxes of cereals with the name 'General Mills' printed upside down or some other mistake that had nothing to do with nutrition,'' Mr. Ferraro said. ''Food banks would trade everything back and forth so we had some balance between what the manufacturers in our area produced. That was food banking in the early days and it was easy.''
Then corporations embraced ideas like Total Quality Management, resulting in improved production controls at food factories, which have benefited consumers with lower prices and investors with higher profits, but have taken a toll on donations to food banks.
''Fewer production mistakes have made it harder for food banks to sustain themselves,'' Mr. Ferraro said. ''The only part of the food industry that has not redone its production processes is the cereals business, where a $4 box of cereal has 5-cents worth of food in it, so there is no point in replacing even pre-World War II machinery if it still works.''
Foodlink and other food banks are nonprofit wholesalers in the middle of a three-tier system. Above them is America's Second Harvest, a Chicago-based charity that coordinates requests to food manufacturers and other big suppliers and directs donations from them to food banks. The bottom tier is composed of thousands of soup kitchens, pantries, churches and other organizations that either hand out food or serve meals.
Last year, Foodlink distributed six million pounds of food valued at $6.9 million. It also raised $2.7 million in cash, a chunk of it through an annual promotion with the Wegmans supermarket chain. Of $9.8 million in total expenses, management cost Foodlink $209,000 and fund-raising an additional $187,000, which together amounted to 4 percent of total expenses.
On the demand side, America's working-age population grew more than 3 percent in the last three years, while the number of jobs shrank 2 percent, creating a gap of more than six million jobs. One in five of the unemployed has been jobless for more than six months, Labor Department data show.
Over the last three decades, incomes for those at the bottom have fallen in real terms. The poorest fifth of families averaged $271 a week in income last year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization in Washington whose data on the working poor are widely respected.
One result of reduced incomes can be seen in New York City, where a third of the population lives below or only modestly above the poverty line. The number of food pantries and kitchens citywide has grown to nearly 1,000 from 35 in 1983.
The way government poverty statistics are reported understates the scope of the problem, said J. Larry Brown, who runs the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management.
''If the official figures show that 34 million people are poor all year,'' Dr. Brown said, ''the question to ask is how many families are so poor that their incomes fall below the poverty line one month during the year. When you ask the question that way, the number rises to 74 million people, or one of every four Americans.''
The first food bank is widely attributed to John van Hengel, a commodities trader who retired to Arizona in the mid-60's and volunteered at a soup kitchen. He started soliciting donations of food, applying his knowledge of commodities in a state where warm weather allows nearly year-round farming with three annual crops from the same field. Van Hengel was so successful that a warehouse was needed to take in the donated food, much of which was passed on to other soup kitchens and food pantries.
By 1976, after others copied van Hengel's warehouse idea, the federal government gave grants to start more food banks. Congress also passed a tax incentive in 1976, allowing manufacturers to deduct the cost of goods they donated and a portion of the profit they would have earned, which increased donations for a time.
A Carter-era change in the food stamps program has also had a big effect on the poor in ways that have unintentionally caused many people to run out of food at the end of each month.
For years, advocates for the poor fought the Agriculture Department's policy that required people to buy the stamps, paying, say, $30 to get food stamps worth $100. The Carter administration changed the program so that those eligible could get $70 worth of stamps without paying any cash.
''People kept that $30 sacrosanct,'' Mr. Ferraro said, ''because they needed it to get the extra $70 worth of food. But once you could get $70 worth of food stamps for nothing, then that $30 was no longer sacrosanct, and it was sometimes spent on some other pressing needs. And that was when we started seeing this phenomenon of people running out of food before the end of the month because they had $70 worth of food when they needed $100.''
Professor Poppendieck sees other forces at work that push people toward food pantries and soup kitchens.
''I do believe many consumers are profoundly disempowered by not having learned basic food-preparation skills,'' she said, ''so they are at the mercy of a market that peppers them with advertisements for high-value-added foods which have been extensively processed.''
In addition, she said, many neighborhoods, urban and rural, do not have access to supermarkets. ''If you must do your grocery shopping at the convenience store on the highway or the neighborhood bodega,'' she said, ''you are paying an exaggerated price for a limited supply in terms of nutrition.''
So, she said, the lack of access to supermarket prices and weak food-preparation skills, combined with falling incomes, have resulted in a growing demand for the food banks and the soup kitchens and pantries they supply.Continue reading the main story


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Farm tire maker Michelin North America recently announced plans to launch the industry’s first farm tire with Michelin Ultraflex Technologies designed specifically for combines. Michael Vandel, marketing segment manager for Michelin North America Agricultural Tires, gave Farm Industry News the exclusive report in July at the 2011 Agricultural Media Summit in New Orleans.
Vandel says combines, with front axles that can weigh more than 53,000 lbs., cause more soil compaction than any other farm vehicle. “With combines, you’re asking two wheels to pull the same amount of weight as a 4-wd tractor on eight large tires,” he says.
The new Michelin CerexBib combine tire, already being used in Europe, is able to carry up to 86% more load than a standard radial tire to handle the weight of the larger, Class 8 and Class 9 combines that have higher grain tank capacities and heavier cutting platforms than combines in lower class sizes have.
The tire will incorporate Michelin’s Ultraflex Technolgies to achieve the increased capacity without requiring an increase in air pressure, which can compact soil and reduce crop yields.
The tire is scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2012 in a Group 48 size of IF800/70R-38CFO. For more information, visit www.michelin-us.com.
Other tires manufacturers have reported work on developing similar tires for combines.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The dollar continued to lose ground against the yen Wednesday, falling to as low as 122.21 yen after reports that orders for durable goods were weaker-than-expected.
The U.S. currency was recently trading at 122.66 yen. The euro fell fractionally to $1.3447, while the British pound fell fractionally to $1.9985.
Orders for all durable goods fell 2.8% in May. The 2.8% drop in total orders was weaker than the 1.7% decline expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. It was the biggest drop in orders since January.
The report's details showed orders for U.S.-made investment goods dropped 3% in May, ending a brief rebound in businesses' capital spending. The figures undercut the theory that business investment would be robust enough to power the U.S. economy out of a slow patch that has lasted more than a year. See full story.
The data also helped bonds to rally, lowering their yields, as it bolstered the case that the Federal Reserve can afford to cut interest rates, a move that would boost the value of bonds but make the dollar less attractive.
Traders, however, typically view durable-goods data as highly volatile, and as a result, the dollar's knee-jerk reaction to the numbers was not major, according to David Solin, a partner at Foreign Exchange Analytics.
"People tend not to really read too much into on month's data," Solin said. "One month of durable goods isn't going to dramatically change the Fed's policies."
The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Thursday, but investors will key in its accompanying statement for clues about future policy. Market players also want to see whether the central bank mentions the recent jitters that have agitated credit markets recently, following the near collapse of two funds owned by Bear Stearns & Co.
Overnight, the yen made strong gains against the dollar, largely due to the unwinding of the carry trade by risk-averse investors. The trade refers to the borrowing in low-yielding currencies, such as the yen, to reinvest in higher-return currencies and assets, such as the dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds.
Positive retail sales data from the Bank of Japan added to the yen's strength. May retail sales in Japan rose 0.5% from April, beating analyst's expectations of 0.4%.
Although the dollar pulled back against most major currencies after the durable-goods report, the yen's gains were largely due to investor concerns about housing and hedge-fund troubles spilling over into the currencies market, according to Joseph Trevisani, chief market analyst for FX Solutions.
"[Investors] saw more to the rising potential for risk in the world economy," Trevisani said.
As a result, many investors decided to sell their carry trade positions overnight and adopt a wait-and-see approach before diving back into the fray, he said.
Although Japanese ministry officials said in the past that they are closely watching the depreciation of the yen, analysts are mixed about whether the comments are changing investor perceptions of the yen carry trade.
Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi warned Tuesday about the "one-way" bets of the yen carry trade. But while Ministry of Finance officials have been more verbal as of late, their concerns are nothing new, Trevisani said.
An explanation of the yen's movement as of late is largely dependent on the state of other markets, Solin said. "It's not really a yen story, but a global risk story."
"Obviously, all that borrowed yen is going into other financial markets," Solin said. As investors become exposed to more risk, they naturally will buy back yen to limit that exposure, he said.


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That could involve helping a grower by getting a university extension agent involved to improve growing practices or taking lessons learned from one region and bringing those to another region.
“We’re just integrating deeper and further on to the supply side and taking our learning and technology and some of the business process improvement and layering those into the relationships and the areas we have our business, and just making the whole supply side better,” he said.
For the demand equation, Lemke said C.H. Robinson understands the receiving side of the business better.
“A decade or two ago we used to sell product and when it got to the customer’s dock and when they signed the paperwork, we would move on to the next order,” he said. “Our mentality here over the last 10 years has been we don’t sell more squash, peppers or potato or whatever until they sell more to their customers so we have invested in and gone through training and account management development for our people to learn what it takes to pull produce through to the cash register rather than just get it to the receiving dock,” Lemke said.
Lemke said the big picture for the produce industry is positive with a higher profile role for fruits and vegetables in federal nutrition programs and the public consciousness.
“It’s hard not to be optimistic,” he said. “How can you not feel good about selling a healthy food and being involved in that?


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The almost overnight move to work from home combined with the wait for a vaccine has changed how companies are viewing commercial real estate and office space. Reuters reviewed second quarter earnings calls and reported that “25 large companies plan to reduce their office space in the year ahead.”
The question on many executives minds is how can Commercial Real Estate be Repurposed? We asked Global Mastermind Accelerator Members Michael Young and Michelle Galvani to share ideas on reimaging Commercial Real Estate.
The Pew Research Center delivered a report in Jan 2020 that confirmed what many people have suspected for decades: “Upper-income households have seen more rapid growth in income in recent decades” than middle or lower-income households. Their research shows that most American families aren’t any better off now than 20 years ago.
While an excessive amount of unused commercial real estate undoubtedly poses a variety of short-term economic challenges, repurposing it provides an incredible opportunity to help middle and lower-income households recover some of their lost economic ground.
Housing and reliable food sources are the foundations of healthy communities and are critical for the growth of the population segments most threatened by recent economic changes. With the right zoning, technologies, and tax incentives to motivate property owners, commercial real estate of all types and sizes (and particularly unused office space) could be transformed into the communities and economic growth engines of tomorrow.
Between a growing city and stagnant wages, affordable housing is a major need in Atlanta for tens of thousands of residents. To that end, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms unveiled a plan in mid-2019 to create 20,000 affordable homes by 2026. If the city were to partner with owners of underutilized commercial properties to create residences within some portion of a building, it would eliminate the city’s need for land purchase, the exercise of eminent domain, and more – expediting the arrival of this much needed housing. Construction Dive magazine reports that reusing commercial buildings usually costs “15% to 20% less than their ground-up construction counterparts.” So reusing commercial buildings could also be a cost savings for the city.
The technology is here today to help feed families by growing food indoors too. Companies like Square Roots allow 340 sq ft to produce the same amount of food as a three-acre farm. Given the tremendous amount of underutilized commercial real estate, this technology could form the foundations of both a food source for residents and an economic driver for excess food that is sold on a local market. Given the population density in these areas, having food grown so close to its consumption reduces both spoilage and the energy required to bring food to market.
If more people are living and growing food in unused commercial buildings, there will be higher demand for services to support them. Everything from stores to restaurants to service providers could co-locate on the first floor or few, much as they do in today’s mixed-use developments. While working from home may be commonplace for many people, those that do not could find employment in these near-by businesses. This would reduce their commute and carbon footprint, while also improving their quality of life and feeling of community.
While mixed-use developments have been around for over 20 years, recent changes from the pandemic have unlocked a huge opportunity for us to reimagine what the term really means. More than just homes stacked on top of offices or stores, underused commercial real estate properties could become all-inclusive, largely self-sustaining communities of the future that feed and provide economic opportunity for their residents. Our future is ripe for building!
The E-Commerce business grew $60.42 billion in the second quarter this year over the same period last year. As companies pivot to the direct to consumer (DTC) service model, the demand for fulfillment facilities is outpacing supply across the country. Additionally, as these companies adopt, refine, and integrate supply chain optimization technologies and reimagine their operations, their facilities will be transformed into smart warehouses, something Amazon has already done.
Hamid Moghadam, Chairman and CEO of Prologis, the largest owner and operating of industrial real estate in the US and Amazon’s primary Landlord, estimates that e-commerce customers need 1.2 million square feet of distribution space per $1 billion in company sales, an amount that is three times the space required by traditional distribution models.
Some industry leaders estimate the need for an additional one billion square feet of distribution space in the next five years to accommodate e-commerce growth. The most desirable locations for last-mile players include proximity to major metropolitan areas with adequate ingress/egress that can accommodate fleet vehicle parking. Amazon is repurposing big-box retail locations, vacated by companies that were not able to survive the impact of the pandemic. Another bold move by Amazon that pre-pandemic city officials and landlords would never have considered approving. Expect this trend to continue as the requirement for specialized infrastructure in these type of facilities grow.
The rise of project-based employment will most likely continue to create a demand for flexible housing, a repurposed use for high rise assets. Companies like Aparthotel, Hometel, and Poshtel are bridging the gap between short term retail such that Airbnb offers and traditional apartments and boutique hotels. Their lean operations allow for hybrid lease accommodations at a budget. The Lamington Group has announced plans to launch its Room2lite Hometel brand in light of its growth during the pandemic.
A leader has the responsibility to embrace the change and guide their team through this change, achieving the ultimate goal – improved productivity through technology and increased value-add to the enterprise through data-driven decisions. – Judy Romano
CompTIA’s analysis of federal employment data showed that U.S. companies had approximately 918,000 unfilled IT jobs for a three month period last year.